Coin treatment apparatus

ABSTRACT

A coin treatment apparatus is disclosed that includes structure for selecting the inserted coins based upon their size, in accordance with their specific currency units, and transferring the coins to a receiving space. Once in the receiving space, coins of the correct currency unit are moved to their respective receiving containers within a receiving box. Coins that are not of the correct currency unit are transferred to a separate receiving space and discharged from the apparatus.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a coin treatment apparatus, used invarious apparatuses operated by coins, such as automatic vendingmachines and public telephones. More particularly the coin treatmentapparatus of the present invention selects various coins on the basis oftheir currency units with different diameters, transfers them into areceiving space, and discharges those stored in the receiving space intoa coin receiving box. This receiving box serves as another receivingspace when a user finishes use of the apparatus.

2. Description of Related Art

Generally, a coin treatment apparatus sorts out the coins into eachcurrency unit, selects them on the basis of the sorted information, andtransfers them into a coin receiving space. At the bottom of the coinreceiving space, a discharge plate for discharging a change and a pathwith a larger diameter than that of the coin to be received into thecoin receiving space are formed. Therefore, the coins received in thereceiving space are discharged through the path according to the linearmovement of the discharge plate.

However, such conventional coin treatment apparatuses have complicatedconstructions because the mechanisms for selecting the coins on thebasis of their currency units, sorting the correct coins from theincorrect coins, and transferring the selected coins to the receivingspace, are installed and operate independently of each other. Therefore,the disadvantages with these conventional coin treatment apparatuses isthat they frequently malfunction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a coin treatmentapparatus, which selects coins on the basis of each currency unit,transfers the coins to the corresponding receiving space, and collectsthe coins stored in the receiving space into another receiving box atthe same time, in order to .easily collect the coins.

For achieving the above objective, various gates are installed, as manyas the number of currency units, the gates are changed in the verticalor horizontal direction to select the coins by each currency unitaccording to the coin discrimination information and to transfer thecoins to the corresponding receiving space, and paths through which thecoins are moved are formed on one side of an arbitrary gate among thegates. Therefore, the coins of the smaller diameter among the coinspassing through the paths fall down to the corresponding receiving spaceof each currency unit so that the remaining coins are selected again.

Moreover, a removing plate which moves in the opposite direction to thatof a discharge plate discharging the coins is installed at the bottom ofthe discharge plate. Therefore, all the coins stored in variousreceiving spaces are removed at the same time and fall down to anotherreceiving box.

According to the present invention, since the selection and transfer ofthe coins can simultaneously be performed, the coin treatment apparatuscan be simplified so that the breakdown of the apparatus and theoccurrence of the malfunction is reduced. Additionally, since theremoving plate performs linear reciprocating motion, all the coinsstored in the receiving containers are simultaneously removed to anotherreceiving box so that the collection of the coins is easily made.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

For fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention,reference should be had to the following detailed description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a totally exploded perspective view of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a selection box of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4A is a front view of the selection box illustrating a selectionprocedure for a coin,

FIG. 4B is a detailed perspective view of part "A" of FIG. 4A,

FIG. 4C is a sectional view taken along line B--B of FIG. 4A,

FIG. 5A is a front view of the selection box illustrating a selectionprocedure for another coin,

FIG. 5B is a sectional view taken along line C--C of FIG. 5A,

FIG. 6A is a front view of the selection box illustrating a selectionprocedure for another coin,

FIG. 6B is a sectional view taken along line D--D of FIG. 6A,

FIG. 7 is a front view of the selection box illustrating a selectionprocedure for a fourth coin,

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line E--E of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention now will be explained in detail by referring tothe accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a selection box 1 for selecting coins bysorting out whether the inserted coins are correct or incorrect and fortransferring them to a receiving space installed in a case 2, and at thebottom of the selection box 1, a receiving box 3 for storing the coinspassing the selection box 1 and for discharging change is installed inthe receiving space.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the selection box 1 dampers dampers 11a, 11bfor reducing the momentum of the inserted coin, a sorter section 12 forsorting out whether the inserted coins are correct or incorrect, and aselecting and transferring section 10 for selecting the coins passingthe sorter section 12 as each currency unit and for transferring them tothe receiving space. The dampers 11a, 11b and sorter section 12 are madeof conventional materials, and especially the sorter section 12 is madeof a usual sorter sensor for sorting out whether the inserted coins arecorrect or incorrect, or a sorter sensor of the coin size.

In the selecting and transferring section 10, a cover 6 is assembled ona base 5 which is a part of the body of the selection box 1, a returninglid 14 is installed on one side of the cover 6, and gates and cointransfer paths for selecting the coin passing the sorter section 12 byeach currency unit are installed on the base 5.

A first gate 4a, a second gate 4b and a third gate 4c are installed tobe sequentially arranged in accordance with the currency units of thenormally used coins, for example, 500 Won, 100 Won, 50 Won, and 10 Woncoins, and additional gates can be installed in case where the currencyunits are increased in addition to the above coins.

On the base 5, the first gate 4a and the third gate 4c are installed tobe projected from the base 5, and a horizontal control piece 46a and avertical control piece 46b are formed to be integrally connected withthe second gate 4b and the third gate 4c.

The second gate 4b is positioned in the same direction as the fallingdirection of the coins. But, in the case where the second gate 4b isprojected from the base 5, the second gate 4b has a predetermined gapbetween itself and the base 5 for horizontally transferring the coins.If the second gate 4b is embedded into the base 5, the second gate 4b isclosely brought to the base 5 in order to prevent the horizontaltransfer of the coin. And if a vertical control piece 46b is projectedfrom the base 5, the vertical control piece 46b is positioned in thevertical direction or inclined to the falling direction of the coins insuch a way that the vertical control piece 46b horizontally transfersthe coin by preventing the vertical movement of the falling coin.Moreover, in the case where the vertical control piece 46b is embeddedinto the base 5, the coins fall continuously because the falling coinsdo not impede the vertical movement of the coins. The third gate 4c isconstructed in the same form as the second gate 4b.

A coin transfer-path through which the coin, passing between ahorizontal control piece 46a and base 5, is horizontally moved is formedon one side of the second gate 4b. Therefore, for projecting aprojection die 5a guiding the movement of the coin from the base 5, afront end 5i of the projection die 5a is further projected than a rearend and that the projection die 5a is inclined from the front end 5itoward the rear end.

When the cover 6 is closed, another projection die 6a on the cover 6 isformed at a position confronting the projection die 5a, by having apredetermined gap between the projection dies 5a, 6a so that the coinscan be moved under the condition that the coins are projected from agap. A guide jaw 6b is also formed on the cover 6 for transferring thecoin which has passed the horizontal control piece 46a. The coin ismoved in a horizontal direction by its own weight because the guide jaw6b is formed to have the same inclination as that of the projection die5a.

In order for the coin which is horizontally rolled through the guide jaw6b falls down to a corresponding receiving space, the inclined surfaces6c, 6j are formed on the guide jaw 6b, a push die 5b is projected at thebottom of the projection die 5a, and the inclined surfaces 5j, 5c areformed on the base 5 in such a way that the inclined surfaces 5c, 6c and5j, 6j face each other.

Receiving container entrances 14a, 14b, 14c, 14d are connected to thebottom end of the projection die 5a of the base 5 and the bottom end ofthe guide jaw 6b of the cover 6, the falling sections 5d, 5e, 5f, 5g and6d, 6e, 6f, 6g behind paths through which each coin falls down areformed, and gaps are formed between the falling sections 5d, 5e, 5f, 5gand 6d, 6e, 6f, 6g for falling down of the coins.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, for guiding the coins which falls down fromthe selection box 1 to the corresponding receiving containers 7a to 7d,the receiving container entrances 14a to 14d are formed on top of thereceiving box 3 where the receiving container entrances 14a to 14d areformed to correspond to the falling section 5d to 5g and 6d to 6g, andthe receiving containers 7a to 7d which are the receiving spaces forstoring the coins are installed at the bottom of the receiving containerentrances 14a to 14d. For linear reciprocating motion of the dischargeplates 8a to 8d, motors 13a, 13b are installed on one side of thereceiving container 7a to 7d for closing and opening the bottom surfacesof the receiving containers 7a to 7d in order to discharge the change.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 8 and 9, the discharge plates 8a to 8d, used forclosing and opening the receiving containers 7a to 7d, are installed atthe bottom of the receiving container 7a to 7d in correspondence withthe receiving containers 7a to 7d, and the discharge plates 8a to 8d areconnected to each of the motors 13a to 13d. As a result, the dischargeplates 8a to 8d move linearly.

The holes 9a of the removing plate 9 for discharging all the coinsstored in the receiving containers 7a to 7d at the same time arepositioned at the bottom of the discharge plates 8a to 8d to bepartially superposed and the removing plate 9 is connected to anothermotor so that it moves linearly.

Among the above construction of the coin treatment apparatus, the numberof gates 4a to 4c and the falling sections 5d to 5g are adjustedaccording to the currency units of the coins being used. In theaccompanying drawings, four currency units (500 Won, 100 Won, 50 Won,and 10 Won) are shown.

A description of the acting effect of the present invention describedabove will now be given. When coins are inserted into a coin insertionhole, momentum and speed of the inserted coins are reduced in dampers11a, 11b. Thereafter, the coins pass through the sorter section 12sorting out whether the inserted coins are correct or incorrect and fourcurrency units (500 Won, 100 Won, 50 Won and 10 Won) are sorted out.

The mechanism equipped in the present invention is driven through aseparate central control unit according to the sorted information, andthe coins are transferred to the receiving space after the coins arecompletely sorted out.

At this time, if the coins are not sorted as a normal coin by the sortersection 12, the first gate 4a remains in a condition of projection asshown in FIG. 8 so that the coins are inclined at the first gate 4a andenter a return hole 14a of the returning lid 14 to be discharged to theoutside. If the coin is sorted as a normal coin by the sorter section12, the first gate 4a is embedded into the base 5 as shown in FIGS. 4A,5A, 6A, and 7. As a result, the coins fall down.

FIGS. 4A, 5A, 6A, and 7 are front views of the selection section forselecting and passing various coins. In cases where the coin passingthrough the first gate 4a as described above is 500 Won, it falls downonto the vertical control piece 46b of the second gate 4b projected fromthe base 5 by being controlled according to the sorter information ofthe sorter section 12, and passes between the horizontal control piece46a and the base 5 after being moved in the horizontal direction by theinclination of the vertical control piece 46b and by its own weight, andthen rolls down onto the guiding jaw 6b. At this time, since the coinrolls down on the guiding jaw 6b with the top end of the coin insertedin the gap of the projection die 6a, 5a, the coin is moved to the rearend of the projection die 6a, 5a, and then is inclined by the inclinedsurface 5j, 6j, and then falls down on to the falling section 5g, 6g.

In the case where the coin passing through the sorter section 12 is 100Won, the first gate 4a is embedded into the base 5 according to thesorter information of the sorter section 12, and the coin passes throughthe first gate 4a and falls down on the vertical control piece 46b ofthe second gate 4b. Thereafter, the coin falls down on the fallingsection 5f, 6f.

In the case where the falling coin is 10 Won, the coin passes throughbetween the horizontal control piece 46a of the second gate 4b and thebase 5 and then falls down on the falling section 5e, 6e as shown inFIG. 6A. In the case where the falling coin is 50 Won, since the thirdgate 4c is embedded into the base 5, the coin passes through the firstgate 4a to the third gate 4c and then falls down on the falling section5d, 6d as shown in FIG. 7.

Thereafter, the coins falling down through the falling section 5d to 5gand 6d to 6g pass through the receiving container entrance 14a to 14dand pile up in the receiving containers 7a to 7d.

If the usage of the apparatus is completed, the change is dischargedfrom the coins piled up in the receiving containers 7a to 7d.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken through line E--E of FIG. 2 and FIG. 9shows the bottom view of the apparatus according to the presentinvention.

As shown in FIG. 8, if the change is determined by the additionalcentral control unit, the motor 13d is driven by the additional centralcontrol unit and the discharge plate 8d at the bottom of the receivingcontainer 7d slides by the motor 13d and at this time, the hole 8 of thedischarge plate 8d coincides with the hole 9a of the removing plate 9during the linear movement of the discharge plate 8d so that the coininserted in the hole 8 of the discharge plate 8d is discharged to theoutside through the hole 9a.

When it is necessary to discharge all the coins stored in each receivingcontainer 7a no 7d at the same time, if the removing plate 9 iswithdrawn, the holes 9a of the removing plate 9 and the holes 8 of thedischarge plates 8a to 8d coincide with each other so that all the coinsstored in the receiving containers 7a to 7d are discharged.

In the operation procedures described above, if the coin does not passthrough each gate 4a, 4b and 4c and is laid across the gate 4b and 4c,an additional sensor installed inside the base 5 discriminates it andthe gates 4a, 4b and 4c is continually operated. Therefore, the coin ismoved.

While the invention has been described with respect to a preferredembodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes in detail may be made therein without departing from thespirit, scope and teaching of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A coin treatment apparatus, having a selectionbox for selecting coins by sorting out whether such coins are correct orincorrect, said correct and incorrect coins being sized in accordancewith specific currency units, a receiving space into which saidincorrect coins are transferred, and a receiving box for storing saidcorrect coins, once passed through said selection box, the apparatusfurther comprising:a base; a cover adapted to said base; a plurality ofgates oriented substantially vertically to each other; means attached tosaid base and said gates for projecting said gates from said base, saidprojecting means being in accordance with the currency unit of each ofsaid correct coins; each of said gates for receiving at least onecurrency unit of said correct coins traveling in a substantiallyvertical direction, and transferring said correct coins to asubstantially horizontal direction of travel; a plurality of projectiondies and at least one guiding jaw formed by said base and said coverwithin said selection box, wherein said projection dies and said atleast one guiding jaw form a coin transfer path for receiving saidcorrect coins from said respective gates along said substantiallyhorizontal direction of travel and further separating said correct coinsbased on a first diameter; and at least one push die and at least oneinclination surface formed by said base and said cover, wherein saidpush die and said inclination surface incline said correct coins havingdiameters smaller than said first diameter along said coin transfer pathin order to fall down into said receiving box; said receiving boxadditionally comprising:a bottom side and a plurality of receivingcontainers having first openings; a removing plate in communication witha discharge plate at the bottom side of said receiving box, both saidremoving plate and said discharge plate including second openings beingsized to correspond with said first openings of said receivingcontainers within said receiving box; and means for linearlyreciprocating said removing plate and said discharge plate in oppositedirections.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said selection boxadditionally comprises:a plurality of dampers for reducing the momentumof said coins, a sorter section for sorting out whether said coins arecorrect or incorrect, and means for selecting and transferring the coinspassing through said sorter section by their respective currency unit.3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least two of said pluralityof gates including, a horizontal member for controlling the movement ofsaid correct coins in the horizontal direction, said member including agap between said horizontal member, and a vertical control member forcontrolling the vertical movement of said correct coins.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein said removing plate is formed by a singleplate.
 5. A coin treatment apparatus, having a selection box forselecting coins by sorting out whether such coins are correct orincorrect, said correct and incorrect coins being sized in accordancewith specific currency units, said selection box comprising:a pluralityof dampers for reducing the momentum of said coins; a sorter section forsorting out whether said coins are correct or incorrect; and means forselecting and transferring the coins passing through said sorter sectionby their respective currency unit; a receiving space into which saidincorrect coins are transferred, and a receiving box for storing saidcorrect coins, once passed through said selection box, the apparatusfurther comprising:a base; a cover adapted to said base; a plurality ofgates oriented substantially vertically to each other; means attached tosaid base and said gates for projecting said gates from said base, saidprojecting means being in accordance with the currency unit of each ofsaid correct coins; each of said gates for receiving at least onecurrency unit of said correct coins traveling in a substantiallyvertical direction, and transferring said correct coins to asubstantially horizontal direction of travel; a plurality of projectiondies and at least one guiding jaw formed by said base and said coverwithin said selection box, wherein said projection dies and said atleast one guiding jaw form a coin transfer path for receiving saidcorrect coins from said respective gates along said substantiallyhorizontal direction of travel and further separating said correct coinsbased on a first diameter; and at least one push die and at least oneinclination surface formed by said base and said cover, wherein saidpush die and said inclination surface incline said correct coins havingdiameters smaller than said first diameter along said coin transfer pathin order to fall down into said receiving box;said receiving boxadditionally comprising:a bottom side and a plurality of receivingcontainers having first openings; a removing plate in communication witha discharge plate at the bottom side of said receiving box, both saidremoving plate and said discharge plate including second openings beingsized to correspond with said first openings of said receivingcontainers within said receiving box; and means for linearlyreciprocating said removing plate and said discharge plate in oppositedirections.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said removing plate isformed by a single plate.
 7. A coin treatment apparatus, having aselection box for selecting coins by sorting out whether such coins arecorrect or incorrect, said correct and incorrect coins being sized inaccordance with specific currency units, and transferring said incorrectcoins to a corresponding receiving space, and said correct coins to areceiving box for storing the correct coins, comprising:a base; a coveradapted to said base; a plurality of gates; means attached to said baseand said gates for projecting said gates from said base, saidprojections being in accordance with the currency unit of each of saidcorrect coins; each of said gates for receiving at least one currencyunit of said correct coins traveling in a substantially verticaldirection, and transferring said correct coins to a substantiallyhorizontal direction of travel; a plurality of projection dies and atleast one guiding jaw formed by said base and said cover within saidselection box, wherein said projection dies and said at least oneguiding jaw form a coin transfer path for receiving said correct coinsfrom said respective gates along said substantially horizontal directionof travel and further separating said correct coins based on a firstdiameter; at least one push die and at least one inclination surfaceformed by said base and said cover, wherein said push die and saidinclination surface incline said correct coins having diameters smallerthan said first diameter along said coin transfer path in order to falldown into said receiving box; said receiving box including a bottom sideand a plurality of receiving containers having first openings, saidreceiving box further comprising:a removing plate in communication witha discharge plate at the bottom side of said receiving box, both saidremoving plate and said discharge plate including second openings beingsized to correspond with said first openings of said receivingcontainers within said receiving box; and means for linearlyreciprocating said removing plate and said discharge plate in oppositedirections.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said removing plate isformed by a single plate.
 9. A coin treatment apparatus, having aselection box for selecting coins by sorting out whether such coins arecorrect or incorrect, said correct and incorrect coins being sized inaccordance with specific currency units, and transferring said incorrectcoins to a corresponding receiving space, and said correct coins to areceiving box for storing the correct coins, comprising:a plurality ofdampers for reducing the momentum of said coins, a sorter section forsorting out whether said coins are correct or incorrect, means forselecting and transferring said coins passing through said sortersection by their respective currency unit; a base; a cover adapted tosaid base; a plurality of gates; means attached to said base and saidgates for projecting said gates from said base, said projections beingin accordance with the currency unit of each of said correct coins; eachof said gates for receiving at least one currency unit of said correctcoins traveling in a substantially vertical direction, and transferringsaid correct coins to a substantially horizontal direction of travel; aplurality of projection dies and at least one guiding jaw formed by saidbase and said cover within said selection box, wherein said projectiondies and said at least one guiding jaw form a coin transfer path forreceiving said correct coins from said respective gates along saidsubstantially horizontal direction of travel and further separating saidcorrect coins based on a first diameter; at least one push die and atleast one inclination surface formed by said base and said cover,wherein said push die and said inclination surface incline said correctcoins having diameters smaller than said first diameter along said cointransfer path in order to fall down into said receiving box; saidreceiving box including a bottom side and a plurality of receivingcontainers having first openings, said receiving box furthercomprising:a removing plate in communication with a discharge plate atthe bottom side of said receiving box, both said removing plate and saiddischarge plate including second openings being sized to correspond withsaid first openings of said receiving containers within said receivingbox; and means for linearly reciprocating said removing plate and saiddischarge plate in opposite directions.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein said removing plate is formed by a single plate.